Jump to content
 

Dave Holt

Members
  • Posts

    1,069
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Blog Entries posted by Dave Holt

  1. Dave Holt

    P4
    Following the near completion of the Royal Scot, I have been working on the Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tank which has been on and off for literally years. Mods and detailing of the body has come quite a long way, though there is still more to do.
    However, this loco and the Black 5 model have reached the point where the chassis have had the basic painting done and the chassis both re-assembled. Further weathering will be required to give some variation and blend with the weathered bodies, some time in the future. I'm holding off fully finishing these locos as I want to have them part dis-assembled for my loco construction demo at this years Scaleforum.
    Here are the locos in their current condition.

     
    Dave.
  2. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Well, the Scot is now complete except for some details to be added after painting. The last parts to be added were the smoke deflectors which, to my eyes, make quite a difference to the overall look of the loco.
    Here it is, connected to the tender, prior to disassembling to cleaning and painting.

     Dave.
  3. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Not much active modelling recently, but i took advantage of the good weather to take a section of the layout into the back garden and pose a couple of trains.
    First up, we see the part completed Rebuilt Royal Scot, 46109, having arrived with a returning Wakes Week holiday excursion.


    Then a more prototypical push-pull train, hauled/propelled by BR Standard Class 2 tank, 84012.


    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    Progress has slowed recently due to warm weather and some health issues. However, the loco is now complete except for the smoke deflectors and cab side cinder guards. The tender is well advanced, the main outstanding tasks being fitting the axlebox/spring castings and completing the front platform and draw bar.
    Here we see the current state of play.

     
    Dave.
  5. Dave Holt
    The model continues to develop.
    The boiler is now fixed to the footplate and all the lubrication pipes, lubricators and atomiser are done, as is the brake ejector and associated piping - except the steam pipes from the cab.
    Here's the current state of play.

     

     

     
    Dave.
  6. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Progress continues at a slow(ish) pace. Since the last entry, the main visual change has been fitting the boiler (still loose at the moment), which required the removal of quite a lot of resin to pass over the motor and sit down on the splasher tops/footplate.
    Recently, I've been working on the lubrication system, sand boxes/fillers and some initial boiler fittings.
    Here's a couple of overall views of the loco in its current state.

     

     
    Dave.
  7. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Apart from the motor/gearbox torque restrainer and the pick-ups, I think the chassis is now complete. The last cosmetic items fitted were the front foot steps and bracing struts and the two injector overflow pipes.
    All the parts have been re-assembled, partly to check the assembly sequence. After inserting ten 14 BA screws into the keeper plate, I discovered that the eccentric strap cannot be fitted into the sheaf unless the axle is partially withdrawn from the horns - somewhat frustrating but, hopefully, I'll remember for the future. With the keeper plate split in two (a mistake I now realise) and entwined with the brake rigging and the exhaust injector steam pipe floating around, it's a bit of a fiddle to get everything into place so the screws can be fitted. Three pinged out of the tweezers but were later retrieved, much to my relief.
    Here we see both sides and the under side and top.

     

     

     


    Dave.
  8. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Quite a bit of progress has been made on the chassis. Despite some setbacks, this has now reached the stage where the inside and outside valve gear is all complete and temporarily fitted. The outside cylinder/valve gear assembly still need the rear cylinder relief valves re-fitted (I had to remove them because they were interfering with full forward travel of the combination levers) and drain cocks to be added.
    Here we see nearly everything reassembled to see how it looks and check for any clashes.

     

     
    Dave.
     
  9. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Since the previous post, the brake gear, under cab pipework and the basic footplate have been assembled and temporarily assembled, as shown in the last photo. This is the current state of play.
    Pipework underneath the cab - complete except the injector overflows.

     

     

     
    Chassis and footplate assembled.

     

     
    Dave.
  10. Dave Holt

    4 mm, P4
    Previously posted as a future project, this has turned into the current project.
    Quite a bit of progress has been made with the chassis which now has the wheel sets in. Still rather a lot to do, but it is coming along.
    Here are some views of the frames with the wheel sets, including the inside crank.

     

     

     

    Dave.
  11. Dave Holt
    Having run out of steam getting the Black 5 chassis painted and not sure how to proceed with the Ivatt tank, I thought I might do some planning (scheming) and some preliminary work on a future project - a Brassmasters Re-built Royal Scot.
    To add interest and a bit of a challenge, I decided to fit the model with working inside valve gear. The kit provides most of the prototypical frame stretchers but makes no provision for the inside cylinder or valve gear. My representation is not going to be exactly to scale but should be a fair representation using as many spare etched and other parts from various kits and left-overs, modified to represent the Scot parts as near as practicable.
    Here are a few photos showing progress to date.
    Frame plate marked out for inside cylinder

     
    Inside cylinder laid roughly in position.

     
    Inside cylinder with front section of valve gear in position.

     
    Rear portion of valve gear, temporarily inserted into the mounting bracket, which will be attached to the rear face of the (kit) motion plate.

     
    Connecting rod fixed to the cross head and located in the cylinder. Again, front portion of valve gear attached.

     
    Dave.
     
  12. Dave Holt
    After contemplating sprung intermediate buffer, due to practical considerations, an executive decision was made - fixed W/M buffers!

    The tender is now complete and has temporarily been connected to the loco. The latter has had some fine strips added to the rear edge of the fall plates, to bridge the gap to the tender.


    Still got to fit locating pins to the loco number and shed plates but, otherwise, I think it's finished ready for painting.
    Here is the finished loco, face to face with a later class mate.

    Dave.
  13. Dave Holt
    Not much progress, but the loco and tender are now connected. The loco and tender kits are from different periods of design and manufacture and the adjustable draw bar supplied with the loco is far too long for the later tender. The fault really lies with the tender because the draw bar pivot is far too close to the buffer beam whereas the earlier tenders were about scale in this respect. The more recent tender is not easily modified to correct this aspect, so the only solution was to make a hybrid draw bar using the etched bar at the loco end and a new part, incorporating a formed eye, made from 0.8 mm brass wire at the tender end. It took a couple of goes soldering the two pieces together to get just the right pivot centre distance so that the rubbing blocks touch but allow the required movement between loco and tender. Although the gap between loco and tender is almost scale, the fall plates on the loco do not land on the front platform on the tender, so some further work is required on this aspect.

    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt
    I see it's been over a year since my last posting on here. To be honest, I find the constant pop up adverts which now appear a constant irritant, so am less inclined to participate.
    Anyway, I have made some limited modelling progress during the gap. Nothing on the layout, but work has been done on locos.
    We left the Ivatt tank at the stage of making the injectors. This and all other work on the chassis is now complete. It is currently stripped to its component parts, ready to be painted.


    I left it like this in anticipation of demonstrating at this years Scalefour North which, inevitably, never took place due to the corona virus. No progress has been made on the body. I was pondering whether to cut out and replace the boiler with a spare cast white metal DJH and decided to re-start another loco whilst I made up my mind. Well, it's still not made up and the other model is now well on the way to completion!
    This latest project is a Brassmasters Stanier Black 5 - 45232, of Newton Heath.
    The basic frames had been assembled years ago but had not been wheeled. It has now reached the stage of the loco being complete, except cab glazing and fixing the cab roof, both of which have to be done after painting.

    The tender is also well advanced but not yet finished.

     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    My Caprotti Black 5, 44741, of Longsight depot, is now finished. The last job was to add plain boiler bands to the firebox and some extra weathering to bring it more to the condition these locos seemed to exhibit in regular service, i.e. filthy. This work was done, as was the whole painting, lining and weathering, by good friend and fellow P4 modeller, David Clarke. I have to say, I'm extremely pleased with the finished loco, which I think really captures the rather ungainly appearance of these locos. a study into how to transform the rather elegant normal Black 5 into an ugly duckling!
    Here are three photos of the finished model.
    First a couple of shots taken on my short length of test rack in the modelling room:
     

     

     
    And here a photo by David Clarke during a recent visit, showing the loco standing near the signal box on "Holt":
     

     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    I was very please to accept an invitation to run some stock on the Manchester Model Railway Club's "Slattocks Junction" P4 layout recently. As the layout is set on the Manchester to Rochdale line, it is the perfect setting for my locos as I hope the photo shows. Besides railways, in various scales, I have a great interest in the cotton mills which dominated the landscape of my native Oldham during my childhood so, I have been pleased to be able to help in some small way with encouragement and some architectural information in the marvelous model of "Alpha Mill", which appears , or rather dominates, the background of the photo. The photo was taken by my good friend, David Clarke who, as explained in earlier entries, painted, lined and weathered the featured loco.
     

     

     
    Here we see Caprotti fitted Black 5, 44741 at the head of a parcels train passing the mill and then on to the canal bridge.
     
    Besides 44741, I took three other locos which ran with varying degrees of success. My Stanier 2-6-4 tank ran faultlessly, the Crab struggled a bit with the weight of an 8 coach passenger train, whilst Jubilee 45701 ran well but had an intermittent short as did EE type 4 diesel, D211. Later investigation of the Jubilee revealed a brake hanger had become dislodged and was catching one of the driving wheel flanges. Unfortunately, this required a major disassembly to put right, but this has been achieved without damage to the finish. I think the diesel was just on the limit of curvature it can accommodate.
    Anyway, thanks to all the guys in the Manchester club for their warm welcome and kind hospitality and allowing me to play trains for an afternoon.
     
    Dave.
  17. Dave Holt
    Following on from the fitting crews and fire irons to various locos it's back to some rather more fiddly modelling in the form of the injectors for my Ivatt Class 2 tank. These injectors have quite a distinctive shape and I am not aware of any commercial source of realistic representations of these items. To overcome this lack, I decided to try and represent the injectors and their mountings using multiple layers of custom etchings, produced to my sketches by Rumney Models. I use the word "fiddly" because each injector unit consists of 30 separate pieces, not including the wires representing the pipework, despite the body only being 5.7 mm long.
    Here's a photo of the real thing, fitted to the Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 tender loco at the SVR. The injector is identical to that fitted to the tank engines except for the mounting bracket and orientation of the water feed pipe.

     
    For the model, I produced this sketch of the assembly relative to the chassis main frames (on the right) and underside of the cab/side tanks (along the top). Drawn 10 times full size, I realised I needed to make some slight changes (as noted) to allow for some minor dimensional compromises.

     
    Here we have one of the assembled injector body/mounting bracket units (LHS of the loco) with the various pipes and water valve operating spindle laid out in roughly their correct relative positions. The pipes will be bent to shape and fitted after the injectors have been fixed in position on the loco main frames.
    Also shown is the other injector and bracket (RHS) which is, of course, the opposite hand.

     
    Think I probably need to go and lie in a darkened room for a while after that lot.
     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    Close on the heels of the BR Std Class 2 tank, I've now completed the finishing touches to my Fowler Class 3, 2-6-2 tank, which has remained almost finished for some years. The work required was the same as on the Standard, namely adding coal to the bunker and a crew in the cab, together with fixing the cab roof.
    Having said these are the finishing touches, I realise that I still need to add fire irons to the rests on top of the RH tank. This also applies to the Standard and to the tender of my Crab 2-6-0. Obviously, a fire iron manufacturing session is required shortly.
    Anyway, here are some photos of the loco as it currently stands.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  19. Dave Holt
    Last time I took my Jubilee. 45701, to run on the NLG test track, it refused to move and showed a fault message "AU5" or "AUS" on the controller. I thought at the time that maybe a pick-up had moved in transport or that there was a chip fault. Anyway, try fiddling with the controller I could not get it to move so it was put away for a future time.
    Last weekend, I was chatting to "Barrow Road" at the Leamington show and the subject of a visit to run suitable locos was mentioned. Now, a Jubilee is a very suitable loco for this layout, so my thoughts turned to trying to sort the problem out. The main issue was the necessity of dismantling the model, with the risk of damage to the finish, in order to access the suspect items. Before starting, I again tried the loco on my short test track and had intermittent movement and then error messages, this time error 01 and 02.
    So, reluctantly I separated the tender, removed the boiler and finally the footplate/cab from the chassis. At each stage i checked for shorts of items out of place but to no avail. It appeared to be a damaged chip or burnt out motor (coreless type). I decided to unsolder the chip leads and refit the bridging bars to enable DC operation to check the motor, starting with the LH side. When I turned the chassis over to do the RH side, I discovered that the wire connecting the RH pick-ups to the connection pad was hanging free. It appears that I had made a dry joint which must have made intermittent contact - hence the problem.
    I quickly remade the failed connection and then reconnected the LH side chip wires and, hey presto, normal behaviour when placed on the test rack.
    The loco was re-checked at each stage of reassembly although there were a couple of hiccups along the way. First, I couldn't find the screw which holds the front of the footplate to the chassis, search as I might. So a new screw was fashioned - it's a very short 8BA but has to have the head reduced in diameter to fit. Then, as I prepared to re-attach the tender, the special screw through the draw bar pinged out of the tweezers. An hour or so on hands and knees failed to find it but did find the missing footplate screw! No option but to make a replacement. The original included a long, Alan Gibson crank-pin bush and I could not find another despite searching my spares boxes and several other Brassmasters loco/tender kits. In the end, something was made up from brass tube and the flange which broke off a 2 mm pin-point bearing which I had been trying to use as an alternative.
    Of coarse, I got completely wrapped up in all this, in my determination to get it sorted, and was slightly horrified to discover it was the early hours of this morning when I finally finished.
    Despite the trials and tribulations and the rather late night, I have now got a fully functioning Jubilee ready to join the fleet.
    As a change, today I've been making a replacement tip for the spokes on one of my large umbrellas, which came to grief in the high winds and heavy rain at the Leamington Show, and making two sets of long fire irons to go on the tenders of the Jubilee and the Crab.
     
    Dave.
  20. Dave Holt
    I thought it was about time I got back to some modelling. My arm/shoulder is still recovering, but i have sufficient movement to use small tools, etc., without over stressing it.
    So, I decided to fit the DCC chip as part of the finishing off process. This required separation of the chassis from the body, taking care not to damage the paint or weathering. That's not to say some minor touching up will be required by the time I've finished. The chip used is a Digitrax DZ126, the current nearest to the DZ123's I've tended to standardise on in all my recent locos. The (spare) lighting wires were cut off close to the encapsulation, just leaving the four traction related wires. Actual fitting was very easy as I had already fixed four copper-clad pads to the side of the gearbox, one each for the two pick-up connections and the motor terminals. In the temporary DC operation, short bridging wires linked the relevant pads to connect the pick-up wires direct to the motor. It only took moments to un-solder the bridging wires and connect the appropriate chip lead. The chip will just rest freely inside the boiler/smokebox when the loco is reassembled.
    The photo below shows the attached chip and chassis.
     

     
    Dave.
     
  21. Dave Holt
    Unfortunately, I will be taking a forced break from modelling for a few weeks, having broken my right arm, just below the shoulder joint, when I tripped and fell heavily on concrete, on Tuesday. Never to be recommended, but this does seam to be a particularly bad time to be incapacitated, what with the build up to Christmas and New Year.
    Prior to my accident, I had progressed the Std 2 tank by fitting the cab glazing and adding coal to the bunker and had started to paint the [Modelu] crew members. Here's a dilemma with a push-pull fitted loco. Does one have both driver and fireman in the cab or just the fireman? It can only be right for one direction of travel, unless someone knows how to make the drive pop up/disappear dependent on whether pulling or pushing. The same issue applies to the driving trailer of the train.
    Here are a couple of rather poor quality photos of the loco, one including part of a typical Delph push-pull train from the mid 1950's - ex-LNWR motor coaches in LMS or BR livery.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt
    Work on the sprung chassis for the Class 40 has progressed with the PenBits etched brass kit assembled and work on modifying the Bachmann drive units and bogie frames started.
     
    The PenBits chassis went together perfectly, with virtually no adjustments required other than minor filing to get various sliding parts to give a nice fit. This was mentioned in the very comprehensive assembly instructions available on the PenBits web site, so came as no surprise. I didn't bother trying to download or print off seventy-odd pages but just browsed on line as I worked - fortunately, my computer is right next to the work bench.
     
    Although I've stated that the chassis is sprung, it's actually a mix of springing and compensation, with pairs of axles sprung using guitar string wires which are able to pivot in their mountings for the primary (on bogie) suspension and the bogies resting against secondary spring wires under the bogie mounts, again able to rock in the fore-aft direction. It all sounds rather complicated but actually goes together nicely with a bit of care and by being methodical, also being careful not to mix parts up between the two bogie assemblies.
     
    Having done all the soldered parts, I had to move on to the modifications needed to marry them to the Bachmann parts. That's where the deep breath came in. It's quite daunting to have to start chopping up the workings of a £200 r-t-r model, knowing that there's no going back or manufaturer's warranty available.
     
    The following photos show aspects of this recent work.
     
    First, the Bachnamm drive train has to be dismantled and sawn into two pieces, with a sliver removed to allow articulation between the axles. This shows the result with the gears re-fitted to the larger piece and the bass transmission linking box in the background.
     

     
    The remaining gears are inserted into the brass housing and the two sections re-connected by the final gear and its pin. Also visible is the bogie mounting with part of the Bachmann bogie mounting arrangement glued into the top.
     

     

     
    The articulated drive train was then dropped into the etched bogie chassis just to check nothing was catching on something else. When the springs are in place, the plastic drive train will be held further up inside the brass chassis.
     

     
    Next the bogie mounting was dropped over the bogie, again to check for clearances/clashes. Once the secondary springs are in, the mounting will sit higher up, giving even more clearance.
     

     
    So far, everything appears to fit as it should with nothing catching or binding.
     
    I can't really do much more with the trial assembly till I've put the driven wheel sets together. The Bachmann axles have to be taken apart to release the drive gears and these then have to be bored out to fit the full width 2 mm axles. A friend who does clock and watch making has very kindly offered to do this on one of his small lathes, so they are with him just now.
     
    The trial assembly has allowed me to have some ideas about pick-up arrangements. Clearances require removal of the existing Bachmann phosphour-bronze strips. The PenBits instructions are based on shorting out the wheels on one side of each bogie but I don't fancy that and need to find suitable positions for conventional wiper pick-ups.
     
    The final bit of work has been to start to get the plastic outer bogie frames ready to fit to the PenBits mountings. This entails cutting out the various cross struts and the base of the moulding and removing the coupling mount. The inner end strut has to be removed after gluing the frames to the brass mounting assembly. I've also cut out the holes where the extended axles of the front truck poke through. Suitable axles have been sourced from the part finished Lima conversion, mentioned below.
     

     
    I'm rather disappointed by the Bachmann frame mouldings and some of the jumper cable details, which are way over scale. Years ago, I part finished Lima Class 40 in P4 and, to be honest, the bogie detail is far superior and much crisper. I'd also put on all the hoses, pipes, front bearers and even the AJ couplings, so I intend to try to reclaim and re-use some of these parts. The photo below illustrated the Lima and Bachmann frames (the Bachmann is neared the camera, so looks larger, but they're both the same size!). I broke one of the cab steps off the other Bachmann and these are much better than the Lima, being separate mouldings, but I'm not sure we've progressed much in the twenty years or so separating these products.
     

     
    Dave.
  23. Dave Holt
    I left the Class 40 with the bogies wheeled and the loco test pushed through some of the yard throat point work. Since then, pick-ups have been added and the loco rendered operational, though not without some trials and tribulations.
    My clever plan for the pick-ups proved a bit too clever for its own good. The mounting bus-bars were just fine as were the simple phosphor-bronze wire pick-ups for the inner wheel sets but those for the outer driven axles gave lots of problems with shorting out on the bogie mounting units. This resulted in a brief period of near despair when I thought I had blown the DCC chip or the control unit or both as on first power application the whole thing went completely dead after moving only a few millimetres and the hand set had a flashing display I just couldn't get rid of. Perhaps old bods like me just shouldn't try to mess with new technology. In the end, it turned out I had simply failed to press the reset but had tried unplugging, cancelling and all sorts of futile actions.
    The solution involved moving the pick-ups to the outer side of the wheels and re-bending them to try to clear the mountings at the extremes of the suspension movement. In the end, I also had to file some mouse-hole shaped cut outs in the mounting stiffeners on the under side.
    This appears to have finally solved the shorting problems and I now have a fully functioning chassis - at least up and down my short, straight, test track. I'm intending to give it a longer running in session on the North London Group circular test track next Monday. In the mean time, I also attached the Bachmann cosmetic bogie frames. making quite an improvement to the appearance of the loco and providing mounting points for the Alex Jackson coupling hooks.
    Still got most of the piping and other details recovered from the Lima project to fit to the new frames. The Bachmann moulded plastic air pipes on the bogie front plates have proved particularly fragile and vulnerable to handling damage and will be replaced by the brass wire versions I made for the Lima.
    Since sorting the electrical problems, I have to confess to the rather childish pleasure of running the sound, repeatedly going through the start-up sequence and then leaving the loco idling for ages with that characteristic warbling whistle, so redolent of these locos. I imagine the sound will be switched off after a few laps of the test track, to avoid me being pummeled to a pulp by angry NLG members, driven to distraction!
    Here is the loco in its current state:
     

     
    I've just been advised that the painting and weathering of my BR Standard Class 2 tank is now finished, ready for collection tomorrow. David Clarke has sent some photos showing the result. I have to fit the windows, coal and a crew to finish it off. It looks like some minor adjustments to the return crank positions might also be required, although it might just be the angle of the photos and crank positions. We'll see:
     

     

     

     
    Thought I might have a go at the Rumney Models sprung chassis for a couple of BR 16T mineral wagons I've had for a while. Just preparing to start shows just how little I know about wagons. Help! They look trickier than locos.
     
    Dave.
×
×
  • Create New...